Five teenagers have been convicted of stabbing a 15-year-old boy to death when they ambushed him outside school in a gang feud.

Zac Olumegbon, a member of the TN1 gang - 'Trust No One' - was chased and then stabbed through the heart just yards from his school gates in the revenge attack in South London in July last year.

As Olumegbon, whose street name was 'Little Zac' walked into school at 8.45am four members of the Guns and Shanks (GAS) gang, two then aged 15 and two aged 16, leapt from a waiting car and stabbed him four times, twice in the chest and once each in the neck and buttocks.

Teachers from Park Campus School in West Norwood raced to the scene but could not save him as the five escaped in a stolen Nissan Almera car.

Victim: Zac Olumegbon, 15 was stabbed to death by members of the GAS gang at the gates of Park Campus School in West Norwood, south London, in July 2010

Mourners lay flowers at the gates of Park Campus School in West Norwood, south London, in the days following Zac's death

The day before he was murdered Zac had spoken at a conference on youth crime.

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As the guilty verdicts were read out there was crying from the public gallery.

At
the Old Bailey, Judge Giles Forrester lifted a ban on reporting the
identities of the gang, who were aged 15-17 at the time of the attack.

Describing the day of Zac's murder, prosecutor Ed Brown QC said: 'Before he was able to start his school day he found himself hounded down and killed by these five defendants, armed as they were with at least two knives.

'As he ran from them he was separated from his school friends, chased, caught and stabbed to death.

Getaway car: This stolen green Nissan Almera was found in Stockwell, south London, soon after the attack

'Given the knives and the
determination with which his attackers acted, once caught there was
likely to be only one outcome - that he would receive really serious and
plainly life threatening injuries, just as was intended, just as
occurred.

'Another young schoolboy was also
stabbed with a knife immediately outside the school. He was lucky, he
survived and in the event did not suffer the fatal injuries that Zac.'

The youths were armed with at least
two knives and had deliberately been driven to the school to attack Zac,
jurors heard, likely in a revenge for an attack on a GAS gang member.

‘It was a tragic and terrible waste of a young life’

The murder was the climax of a south
London gang rivalry between TN1 from Tulse Hill and the GAS gang from
the Angel Town Estate in Brixton.

Two weeks earlier, in mid June, a GAS
gang member had been stabbed by a TN1 gang rival when Zac was 'present
if not at the stabbing then certainly shortly beforehand.'

Another young boy was injured in the confrontation but all the signs were that Zac was the ‘prime target’, said Mr Brown.

He
added: ‘The reality of the events that were to lead to Zac’s death is
that it had its origin in the dreadful but certain fact of rivalry
between young gangs.

Zac's mother described him as a loveable character who brought 'so much laughter and light' to the family

‘Needless posturing that on occasion led to violence and occasion serious violence and death.

‘It was a tragic and terrible waste of a young life.’

Mr
Brown said the defendants were members of the GAS gang from Brixton,
while Zac was associated with the rival TN1 (Trust No-One) gang from
Tulse Hill.

‘Zac was a member of it and was known as Little Zac,’ said Mr Brown.

His mother Shakira told the court of the pain of losing her youngest child.

In a statement to the court, she said: ‘The scene that confronted me when I reached the school is indescribable.

‘Even though Zac was young, he touched many lives.’

‘This is our life sentence. It feels like the 15 years I spent raising my son and all the hopes and dreams I had have been in vain.

‘I never thought I would bury any of my children, let alone my baby boy.

‘He was snatched away in such a cruel and heartless way.’

She said Zac had attended a conference which was helping him turn his life around.

She said the day before his death Zac had spoken at a conference about youth crime and she noticed a change in him and he was 'finally making a change and hoping to become an inspiration' for others.

‘He told me he wanted to help young people facing the same problems,’ said Mrs Olumegbon.

The youths will also be sentenced for wounding another schoolboy in the attack.